The focus today is on Ford’s 1955 concept car, the Mystere. Unfortunately, this is one of many concept cars that appeared and was abandoned by its creators immediately after several auto shows. Therefore, little is known about it, and its fate most likely turned out to be disassembled for spare parts in the same workshop in which it was assembled.
Anyway, in 1955, the Mystere was one of the many products from the era when 95% of US designers tried to make a car look like an airplane. Therefore, when Bill Boyer created this car in the summer of 1954, he equipped it with all the necessary attributes: lots of antennas, huge fins and a transparent roof in the style of a fighter cockpit. Even more: according to the idea of the creator, the car was supposed to be powered by a gas turbine, not an internal combustion engine. And this turbine had to be installed in the back, in the trunk, and the spare tire and other luggage, as usual in such cases, were stored under the hood.
As a result, no engine was installed in the car at all. And although Mystere was preparing for the January 1955 Detroit Auto show, by the decision of the company, he did not get there. Moreover, Ford published the first photos of the car only in September, and the car appeared in public only the following year, 1956, in Chicago.
The following very reliable information reached us about the working technical details: the front seats could turn their backs deeper into the cabin for ease of landing. The air intake was working and supplied fresh and cool air to the car’s cabin – obviously, Ford already suspected that it might be hot under a fully transparent roof. There was a telephone between the seats, and passengers in the back seats could watch TV. And if it had an engine, the Mystere would start by pressing a button.
Well, the most unusual feature was, perhaps, the unusual shape of the swing steering wheel. It was possible to drive the car both from the right seat and from the left. Moreover, there is a suspicion that it would be quite possible to change the driver without any special problems right while driving.
In short, Ford Mystere is another collection of interesting and sometimes very advanced solutions that the mass consumer will not be able to try out – and will not be able to touch. Because progress is progress, experiments are experiments, and money doesn’t earn itself.
Source: https://www.kustomrama.com/index.php?title=1955_Ford_Mystere
